The Winnipeg Prophecy???

Warning: The following post contains more weird and unexplainable occurrences. What you are about to read is true. What you make of it is up to you.

Crazyland, ON I’m pleased to announce that, in the few hours since my rant about the Jets ticketing practices, the team’s SeatExchange website was relaunched, and it appears as though the odd ticket is popping up here and there. I’m still not entirely confident about my upcoming trip, but at least there is a small (very small) glimmer of hope. Luckily, if there is any chance at all that I’ll get my hands on a ticket, I’m the kind of girl that can and will make it happen.

Now, many of you are probably thinking that I’m an idiot for booking flights, etc to see a hockey game before I actually had a ticket, and that’s most likely because you’re a cunt. This isn’t my first rodeo, cowboy! Finding tickets isn’t usually a problem ANYWHERE. Winnipeg is a freakin’ anomaly. I’ve never faced such adversity in my lifetime. Besides, I’m flying to Winnipeg on points, and since Aeroplan is pretty much the shittiest travel points system around, they have plenty of blackout dates that like to shift based on demand. I knew I wanted to go to Winnipeg in the first week of February before family birthdays and potential moves start to heat up, and I saw that the Jets had two home games at that time – Florida and Toronto. Both teams are sure to make for interesting stories, so I was happy with either. Aeroplan dictated that Florida would be the game I saw, and I booked it right away before the point level went up (it does that closer to the day of travel – shitty, right?). Besides, I don’t want to waste too many of my points on hockey. Living abroad, I always make sure to have enough points to fly around the world and back. It’s like insurance if things go to Hell while I’m overseas!

So, I booked up my flights and hotels BEFORE I had my ticket secured, but that’s nothing unusual because I know I’ll always get a ticket. In the very least, there are always scalpers, right? Apparently not in Winnipeg, as most scalpers were arrested last year for pushing Jets tickets. Yeah, after reading that the anxiety really began to set in. Now, when I say I’m doing everything in my power to find a ticket, I’m doing EVERYTHING in my power without resorting to fucking the entire Jets sales team. I’ve scoured every inch of the Internet a thousand times. I’ve called Guest Services at some of the “nicer” hotels in Winnipeg looking to see if they sell to guests. According to them, they aren’t expecting to get any tickets this season due to hysteria over the shortened schedule. Thanks, Don! Thanks, Gary!

I found myself a bit exhausted this evening trying to figure out what to do with my Winnipeg trip. Do I cancel? Do I redirect my flight to Vancouver or Calgary, and do the Western swing instead? It is going to be REALLY hard to get a single seat in a dry market like this – one ticket is often harder than two! It is going to be REALLY expensive to get a ticket even in the nosebleeds. And it is REALLY fucking far to go all that way for a nosebleed seat in the first place. Oh, did I mention it’s a balmy -35 degrees this week?

Speaking of expensive… The Jet’s official SeatExchange site charges processing fees of nearly $20! The organization made a huge deal about how this new system will help to combat the circulation of fraudulent tickets and other unethical issues. Yeah, with fees like that, you seem pretty stand up, Winnipeg (sarcasm). And I’m sorry, but StubHub is more than a trustworthy site. If you did get scammed, yes, you’d have to deal with unpleasantness at the rink, but you’d be getting your money back – no question. I never even think twice about using StubHub, and some NHL organizations embrace it! If you go on the Sabres website, they direct you to StubHub for all your ticket purchasing needs!

Anyway, this whole battle over the ethicality of reselling Jets tickets in Winnipeg was starting to feel a little familiar. I thought back to the dream I had the night before the Lockout ended. At the time, I didn’t think too much of it as far as “prophetic” dreams go. I mean, the Lockout ended the night I had my first hockey dream since last season. Could be a coincidence, but I’ll take it. But now things seem a little more eerie, perhaps it wasn’t the Lockout I was “predicting.” Perhaps, it was this!

In the dream I am in the upper bowl of an unfamiliar hockey arena. The hockey arena seemed more like a theater, and the ushers dressed accordingly. I had never been to this place before, but in the dream I believed it to be MSG. As I looked down to the ice I could see the Panthers and the Rangers warming up far below. I thought it was odd that I would purposely sit in the nosebleeds for a potentially high drama game, and started to wonder what I was doing all the way up there. I also couldn’t find my seat. The usher, a woman with a really bad perm, told me that my ticket was a fake, and that she wasn’t sure how I managed to get in the gates, but that I could stay if I wanted to.

For some reason the dream did seem important to me at the time. You know how sometimes you wake up and you think, “I’m supposed to remember this?” This was one of those times, but I wasn’t sure why. I mean, fake tickets isn’t something I’ve ever been faced with before and wouldn’t have crossed my mind otherwise, and yet here it is again in Winnipeg up close and personal!

Now the NHL schedule wasn’t released for several days after the night the NHL/PA came to an agreement over that long marathon session in New York in early January. How could I have known that a fake ticket to a Florida Panthers game would be an actual problem this year. I didn’t know which teams I was going to be seeing. All I knew is that when the schedule did come out, if the lockout DID end, Winnipeg would be a top priority given the possibility that I could be in Saudi Arabia before March!

Maybe you think this dream is nothing to get paranoid about, but I kind of do. It’s because of this dream that I’m being extra cautious when it comes to looking for tickets now. Clearly, phony tickets have been a problem in Winnipeg, and I already had a dream that I got duped seeing the team that I *should be* seeing when I’m there. And let’s not forget that there are some creepy coincidences with this dream, too:

1. Florida Panthers are the opponent in both dream and reality!

2. The home team wears a blue jersey in both dream and reality!

3. MSG and MTS (Centre) are only one letter off!

4. I was uncharacteristically seated in the nosebleeds in the dream, and it’s starting to look like that’s where I’ll be if I can get a seat anywhere in Winnipeg.

5. Both New York and Winnipeg have professional sports teams with the name Jets!

6. I will actually be in New York the day I fly to Winnipeg! No lie!

Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m going to do at this point, but I’ll keep you posted on the epic drama that is to be my first (AND ONLY) trip to MTS Centre. Thanks to my subconscious, I’ll be sure to be extra careful. One must always take note whenever the Panther(s) show up in my dreams, after all. But before I go, one more bit of creepiness to close off another classic insane Psycho Lady post. The day after the NHL schedule was released, and I had already booked my flights to Winnipeg, I got a phone call from a certain “psychic” that you may remember from those horrible AZ Prophecy days back in ’09. This was the first call of THAT nature since that whole AZ period. Here’s what happened. I haven’t edited a damn thing:

Psycho: Why would they be giving me tickets? I’d already have a ticket.

Psychic: I don’t know. Someone is giving you tickets.

Psycho: OK. Well Winnipeg isn’t the first place I go to. I’ll give you a dollar if you can guess where I’m going first.

Psychic: Hmm that’s weird. A map of Tampa Bay just popped into my head. Are you going to Florida or something?

Psycho: Florida MAY be the team that is playing in Winnipeg…

Psychic: Did that just blow your mind?

Psycho: Maybe.

Well, hopefully she’s right about the ticket thing, and I manage to find one somehow, someway. Unfortunately, the last thing she said I’d like to ignore, as I REALLY want nothing to do with the past, but perhaps I should have thought of that before booking the flight, “Umm… Whatever happened to that AZ guy?” Dammit, NO! I’m trying to get over the crazy! Let’s not forget where the old Winnipeg Jets call home, after all! Maybe I really should cancel this trip! Hmm… But where’s the fun in that?!

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